Monday, March 3 - Tuesday, March 4
The day of departure! I took a bus to Chicago O'Hare from the university campus in Madison. It was my first experience riding the public bus, but it was pretty uneventful. I ended up sleeping most of the way (pre-travel stress had caught up to me). I made it to Chicago just fine, and my check in was expedited by the fact that I was able to do most of it online the night before. I made it through security without incident, but a woman in front of my had nail polish in her purse and the security crew had to dump it into a bucket and search through it...fortunately I left mine in my checked luggage! Regardless, a lot of my nervousness about traveling was eased after I made it through security and all I had left to do was getting on the plane.
I spent the two hours or so I had before my flight having my last American meal (McDonalds, naturally) and making last minute phone calls to the people I love. I met up with another Riponer heading to Bonn, Claire, and we talked a bit as we were waiting. Our plane boarded and departed without anything exciting happening. We flew with British Airways, so our steward and stewardesses had pretty sweet accents. I was seated in the back of the airplane and I had a row to myself, so I was able to spread out and be fairly comfortable. The flight from O'Hare to london included a full dinner (chicken breast with rice and veggies, roll, salad, banana cake) as well a small breakfast. Each seat on the plane had a screen in the back of it for the entertainment of the person sitting behind, so I entertained myself by watching the animated Beowulf...tis a silly movie. Afterwards, I slept through most of remainder of the flight.
Coming into London was pretty cool...it was my first truly international experience. The view coming in was amazing...and even from so far above you could see the cars driving on the wrong side of the road... London Heathrow airport was a little bit of an adventure in that we almost (kind of) missed the connecting flight to Dusseldorf because we landed late. So by the clock we should have missed the plane, but our connecting flight was late, too, so it all worked out. During our short wait at the gate I heard my first German word: Fruestueck, which means breakfast. Pretty cool ; )
The flight to Duesseldorf was short and painless, which was good because after we landed everything else went kind of downhill. Claire and I shortly found out that our luggage had not come with us to Germany, which introduces our first experience dealing with things auf Deutsch. Fortunately they spoke good English, because it was quickly becoming evident that my German language skills were not quite up to task for dealing with the situation. So they took our school information (University of Bonn, for those who have forgotten) and sent us on our way...
Now traveling light, we proceeded to search for the train station, which involved a ~20 min confusion surrounding a SkyTrain which was supposed to shuttle us there, but we finally arrived...with 3 minutes to get to the train. Well, that didn't work out so hot, so we ended up waiting an hour for the next train to come, and then travelled wearily to Bonn (about an hour away).
My first impressions of Germany were not quite what I expected them to be...and part of it has to do with Dusseldorf being such an industrial city, but it was actually kind of dreary at first. There was a lot of graffiti on the surrounding, and every once and a while we'd pass a group of pathetic shacks clustered around the tracks. Not quite what I expected.
Finally....Bonn! We immediately left the trainstation and entered a city that reminds me a lot of Madison with a Chicago twist...(relatively) small and safe, but with a big culture feel to it. Claire and I made our way to the international center, registered with an intern who surprised us by speaking in flawless English (which is what will happen if you're an American student from Ohio...) and set out to be shuttled to our respective lodgings. After "settling" into my room as much as I could with one back pack, I was dismayed to find that somewhere along the way I had lost my new camera. Sweet. (for the sake of those who haven't talked to me since, it was found on Friday! However, it definitely tainted my mood until then...).
A few of us had agreed to meet at the international center to forage for food, so I rode my first German Bus and walked down to the main building to meet my new compadres. The people at the international office suggested that I wait in my room all night in case my luggage were to arrive, and I listened with a forced smile (I was not pleased) and decided to get food regardless. I found out that most of the people I was with were from Madison and one from Kansas, so I was able to find bits of home in Germany from the beginning. My first German beer (I know, I know) was a Jever Pils, and it was, not surprisingly, quite good ; )
I returned to my room at about 9:30, exhausted and quite whelmed by the events of the day, being in Germany away from family, friends, and girlfriend, having British Airways lose my luggage, losing my new camera. I was just about to fall asleep when my room was buzzed...I was so tired I answered entirely in American English and booked it downstairs to meet a BA dude with my luggage. It was a good feeling to have the part of travels taken care of. Now if only I had my camera.....
And that's Day One. Sorry for such a massive post, but there's just so much to tell! I have since been able to take a picture from the window of my thirteenth-floor dorm room:
The sun was setting, so the lighting is a little unusual, but it gives you a glimpse of part of the city!
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